Internet and Telephone while travelling: What solutions during a Round the World Tour?
During a long short trip or when you are a digital nomad, you don’t want to or can’t completely cut yourself off from the means of communication.
Internet is very convenient to make a Google Map itinerary, call a VTC, check the restaurant reviews, …
The telephone is very convenient for booking an excursion, calling relatives or clients.
Here is a small synthesis of the solutions at your disposal.
How to have internet?
WiFi
The most obvious way, WiFi is available all over the world: in hotels, youth hostels, restaurants and cafes and sometimes even in a whole city. This is the most economical solution because it won’t cost you anything. On the other hand, you have to accept that you aren’t permanently connected and it is often when you need it the most that there is no WiFi nearby.
The WifiMap participative application is great for mapping wifi spots with passwords all over the world.
The Free Mobile subscription
Free Mobile offers an absolutely awesome phone plan. For a subscription of 20 € / month you can use 25 GB of internet in more than 65 different countries, a must! Americans and Canadians hallucinate when they discover that such an offer exists ^^
The local SIM card
Except in some countries (USA, Canada, …), buying a local SIM card is very cheap. For about ten euros, you can buy a prepaid card valid for one month, without commitment, with a few GB of internet data. Largely sufficient most of the time.
You can usually find these local SIM cards at the airport, in phone stores and sometimes even in small grocery stores.
The international SIM card
If you absolutely need to always have a solution to connect, an international SIM card is the solution. This is a card on which you put credit that you can use in any country in the world.
Rates will differ according to the offers and countries.
In my opinion, the best offer is, by far, that of Drimsim (see our comparison here)
How to call to France?
If you have internet
WhatsApp, Skype, Messenger, Hangout, …
If you have an internet connection, you can easily reach your loved ones with your favorite instant messenger.
A VoIP solution
If you need to reach someone who does not use instant messaging, you can use a VoIP solution. VoIP is the protocol for internet telephony. You will be able to reach any fixed or cell phone.
There are many different offers, but OVH offers unbeatable rates.
If you don’t have internet
If you need to make a call in France without being connected to the Internet or if the connection is too slow for the call quality to be correct, there are a few solutions.
Rebtel
Rebtel is a particularly ingenious service, it allows you to call in France by calling a local phone number of the country you are in. This service costs 5 € / month for unlimited calls, to which you have to add the price of the local call which is usually very cheap.
Free Mobile
The Free Mobile offer mentioned above allows, in addition to the Internet, to make calls to France from a large number of countries. The ideal if you are in a country concerned by the offer.
The international SIM card
International SIM offers also allow you to call France from any country (see our comparison here). Be careful with the rates, they can be high depending on the country.
